Thread: EJ "Best" Black Badger???

I am going to stick my neck out and say that if you want a silvertip badger brush with some backbone look at the SOC 2 band badger. It takes some breaking in to get all the softness going but it still retains more than enough backbone to eat up soap pucks and exfoliate your face. Price wise for a production 2 band badger it is a bargain IMHO.

Bob

Well, after reading reviews across the net and the feedback here I decided to go with this:

It's an EJ Best Badger that came in just under budget. From everything I've read this seems like a good middle ground badger that should fill the role I'm looking for now, and in the future I can go firmer or softer from there.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Peace,
Jim

I saw the topic today
I have a EJ Black Badger at 22mm
Not something great,very soft in comparison with other black badgers from TGN knots
I would not buying again, it's a little bit in the "soft" side with not too muck backbone.

SO I just saw this one...

This is my third post about the Semogue 620 tonight, so obviously I'm biased. I went to it from a EJ best badger (not the black) because I wanted more backbone, and from what I was reading, the 620 boar was the way to go. I was skeptical because I'd never used a boar brush before. Now that the tips are nice and split, it is actually softer than my old EJ BB but with infinitely more back bone. I left it at the in laws over Christmas and was distraught until I got it back.

Not sure if you've ever owned a pair of boots, but my 620 is like that to me. Once it's broken in, you'll become very attached to it, demanding that a knot of hog hair be overnighted to you lest your world end. You won't want to shave with anything else. Of course, it was exactly what I was looking for.

Anyway, the EJ BBB is a classic. Maybe the 620 will be under consideration for your next brush.

Hey, so I posted a comment on horse hair brushes and thought I'd do a follow up here.

I'm happy to have not gone the EJ Black Badger route. It may have been a great brush, but from the descriptions here and elsewhere online it would have been too firm to fill the role I was looking to fill.

Since February I've been using the EJ Best Badger (pictured above) almost daily. It's a great brush. It's just stiff enough to handle puck soaps (barely), with a perfect balance of soft vs. backbone to feel good on the face without being floppy.

I have some vintage badger brushes that are just floppy as can be. They might work well with creams, but they have no appeal to me. They just hang in the bathroom. I have a VDH boar (my first brush ever) that hangs with the vintage badgers because it's too stiff and doesn't compare with the lathering capabilities of my other brushes.

I have a good stiff bestshave.net No. 6 brush (horse hair) I use when removing beard because it stands up to my coarse whiskers. It's about as stiff as some of the good quality boar brushes I've encountered. Then I've got my old daily use No. 7 also from bestshave (also horse hair) which is stiff, but not scratchy. Handles puck soaps just fine. Lathers better than the No. 6 and is more comfortable with short stubble or daily shaves.

The EJ Best I picked up comes in right before the edge of floppy. It can handle puck soap, but with care. It's bristles are soft and comfortable even on the most sensitive areas of my neck. It will handle up to two day's growth, but more than that is a struggle and I prefer the No. 7 if I miss more than one day shaving. But it seems perfect for an every day puck or cream brush that's soft but not floppy.

FWIW!

Peace,
Jim